Remembering Jackie (as in Mason)

Another Bonus Mini Post

For many years I have had four close friends who all live within a few blocks of each other in midtown: the filmmaker and director Jim Burns, the producer Scott Perrin, the New York living legend, Bill Boggs, and the amazing piano colossus, Monty Alexander; to this very day, are all still living around the corner from each other around West 54th Street and Broadway. (In fact, those are the only major friends I have in midtown, which is even more expensive and unmanageable than the rest of New York.) More recently, I’ve acquired another, much younger friend, who also resides in the same area, the comedian and actress Sheba Mason.

So for many reasons, I have spent a lot of time on those few blocks, usually visiting or having a meal with one or other of those fine gentlemen. And back in the days before covid, I would frequently encounter a possibly even more legendary New Yorker, the comedian Jackie Mason, who, coincidentally, happened to be Sheba’s father.

Jackie Mason, people tell me, had his faults as a human being, but he was always extraordinarily nice to me. He was also one of the more approachable celebrities; you would always find him in a bodega or a convenience store having a lively conversation with someone. He always seemed to have time to say hello, or, more usually, to argue about politics or whatever was in the news that day.

Like the rest of you, I saw Jackie (who died at 93, during the pandemic in 2021), many times on TV. I also had the pleasure of seeing all of his one-man shows on Broadway, often with my (non-midtown) friends Loren Schoenberg and Ken Peplowski.

I was only involved in a professional situation once with Jackie. There were several periods in the 1990s when he co-hosted a TV talk / panel show with his friend, the celebrated attorney, Raoul Felder. (By a further coincidence, I had met Mr. Felder through his brother, the great songwriter Doc Pomus, aka Jerome Felder—talk about a magic moment!) In 1997, the two of them shared a series on PBS titled Crossing the Line.

And they had another show in 1998—I’m not sure what the title was. I remember this, because, shortly after the death of Sinatra, Jackie and Raoul put together a panel to talk about the late chairman, that included Bill Boggs, Jonathan Schwartz, Mark Simone, and myself. When I come to this part of the anecdote, all of a sudden, I get very fuzzy. I did the program, but I never actually saw it, and my memories are sketchy at best. This period was a low ebb for me; I went through the death of my father, as well as my first (and not the last) divorce. The death of Sinatra was another overwhelming blow to me; somehow I took it personally.

One point I do remember is that in talking about Sinatra, Jackie focused the discussion on Sinatra as an artist and a musician; this was a period when most of the mass media only discussed him in terms of his larger-than-life personal history, his connections to power figures in both politics and, allegedly, the underworld. Alas, Sinatra didn’t get taken seriously as an artist, by and large, until well after his passing. But I was impressed that Jackie only wanted to talk about the music and the artistry. Bravo, Jackie!

For years, I’ve been trying to get a copy of that program; recently I tried writing to the other participants—they’re all still with us, thank The Lord—to see if any of them had a copy, but no dice. The only one I haven’t been able to reach is Mr. Felder. (If anyone is in touch with him, let me know.)

There’s another story—I’m not sure if it’s worth sharing. Around 2010, I went, as I often did, to a one-man show at a world famous supper club on the highly fashionable Upper East Side. The headliner was a legendary movie star celebrating his 90th birthday; it won’t help anything to actually mention his name. But let’s just say the show was not good, and leave it at that. In fact, it was memorably lousy, epically awful. One of the worst and most uncomfortable evenings I’ve ever experienced. I’ve since read that Tony Bennett, Donald Trump, and others were there, but the only ones I remember seeing were Jackie and Raoul. We were sitting close enough to see each other; and we might have said hello before the show. Afterwards, however, we bolted out of there as quickly as possible, without saying a word to each other. In fact, we were trying to pretend that none of us was actually there—and it would help if we didn’t acknowledge each other, talking would have spoiled that. All the times I saw Jackie afterwards, we both made a point not to bring it up.

Since meeting Sheba, I have been reminiscing a lot about Jackie and my casual connection to him, both on that one TV show and in casual conversations in many a West 50s deli. I am pleased to spread that word that Sheba and her mother, Jackie’s longtime partner, Ginger Reiter, are presenting a new, original show that captures all the various sides of this complicated man. It’s titled simply, The Jackie Mason Musical, and Ginger wrote the book, music, and lyrics; Sheba is starring, playing Ginger, and Ian Wehrle, a very talented actor, comedian, and musician, plays Jackie himself. Ginger has written songs that you can easily imagine coming out of Jackie’s mouth, like “Ode to the Early Bird Special,” “The Finger,” and “I Never Met This Yenta.” It’s at the Actor’s Temple Theater the weekend of July 25. I’ll be there, and I hope to see some of you there as well

Sheba Mason (as Ginger) and Ian Wehrle (as Jackie)

.Info re The Jackie Mason Musical

Sat July 25. 3PM and 7:30PM. Sun July 26 3PM.

Actors Temple Theatre . 339 West 47th Street.

To purchase tickets telecharge (click here)

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Over the next five Tuesdays, I am doing a comprehensive zoom series on the life and music of our favorite centennial celebrant, the legendary TONY BENNETT! To register (and it’s very reasonable) click Here:

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Coming Next: Summer Time is Comedy Time
Jackie (Mason) and Me: In Honor of The Jackie Mason Musical, written by his longtime partner, Ginger Reiter, and starring his daughter, Sheba Mason, in a limited run in New York. At the Actor’s Temple Theater July 25-26. For Tickets and more info, click here.

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Very special thanks to Elizabeth Zimmer, Rob Lester, & Dan Fortune for their expert proofing, hey!) Special Thanks again to Daniel Weinstein, Jordan Taylor, & Rob Waldman.)

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